Sunday, 9 October 2016

Rushed to
the nearest cinema yesterday to watch Wołyń by Wojtek Smarzowski, the film
which had premiered the day earlier. Mr Smarzowski can boast of track record of
directing films which authentically, yet sorely lay bare the darkest side of
the human nature. I have watched all his films, except Róża, and reviewed
Drogówkaand Pod Mocnym Aniołem on the blog.

A dose of
historical knowledge is essential if you are to fully understand the film which
depicts the run-up to and the very Volhynia carnage and unless somebody is
familiar with the topic, a thorough catch-up before the trip to a cinema is
highly recommended. Despite me doing the homework beforehand, I was kind of
astounded to see the joy of Ukrainians who greeted Red Army soldiers in 1939 as
liberators setting them free from Polish tormentors and two years later,
disillusioned with the new occupier, gave a warm welcome to Nazi army.

The film is
less coarse and naturalistic than most previous films by Mr Smarzowski, though
sexist scenes of crude intercourses appear to be an indispensable common
denominator of all his pieces. In Wołyń, illustration of ordinary life,
including its darkest aspects, is skilfully balanced with depiction of
historical background of the carnage. The background which reminds a genocide
is never a spontaneous misdeed, hatred needs a fertile ground to grow wild.

Dosage of
atrocity in the film is, must I say, quite moderate. The film is meant to leave
its audience mentally black and blue and renders appositely how the massacre in
today’s territories of Western Ukraine actually looked. After reading
historians’ records of how cruel the genocide was, the picture of murders comes
out mild.

Comparing
methods Ukrainian nationalists made use of to kill Poles, I believe most
victims of Gestapo and NKVD at least had enviably short deaths. Prisoners of
Nazi concentration camps were closed in gas chambers and fell asleep, breathing
in lethal gases (most online sources I found while writing the post describe
gassing as painless). NKVD officers killed their victims with one shot in a
head. Both totalitarian regimes during WW2 ran industries of mass murder meant
to annihilate Poles, quickly and efficiently. Ukrainian nationalists, though
the death toll of the genocide committed by them is several times lower than
number of victims of Nazis or Stalin, wanted not just to eradicate Poles from
their homeland, but also did it with inhuman atrocity.

The film is
a vital step towards truth and I hope it brings closer the carnage to Poles, as
the matter is less known than several other acts of violence against Poles
during WW2. The Wolhynia slaughter has also not been the subject of broader
debate for the sake of building good relationships with independent Ukraine
(how could it be possible without facing the truth?).

Germany has
apologised and atoned for its WW2 felonies.

Russia, as
a heir of the Soviet Union, has not atoned for its WW2 sins and cruelty, yet in
1993 when Russia seemed to be a civilised country (I longer consider it so
since March 2014) its president Mr Jelcyn apologised to Poles for Katyn and in
November 2010 its parliament passed a resolution condemning Katyn massacre.
Today these might appear as hollow gestures, yet some steps were undeniably
made towards reconciliation.

Ukrainian
intellectuals and artists have apologised for the Volhynia carnage to Poles
several times, but Ukraine’s governments still take efforts to sweep the topic
under the carpet. Remember the visit of former president Komorowski in April
2015? Mr Komorowski delivered a speech in the house of parliament, while a few
hours later deputies passed a resolution glorifying Ukrainian nationalists
responsible for genocide on Poles. Soon after the Smolensk disaster, Katyńby
Andrzej Wajda was broadcast in Russian TV. In today’s Russia it would be
unimaginable, however I doubt in the foreseeable future Wołyń could be watched
by masses in Ukrainian TV.

@AnonDepends on the sources you quote, most of those during the research support what I wrote. The painlessness depended on the gas used; some gases made prisoners fall asleep, with other, they were suffocating had had their throat and breathing system burnt for a few minutes.Could you justify why Germany has not anoted for its misdeeds and what sort of penance would you expect from them?

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A review

Written by a more-or-less anonymous Polish student, PES can be a daunting read for the generally attention-deficient blog reader, but it’s worth the effort. The bloke refuses to compromise and will hit you with 2,000 words about Polish corruption if he feels it’s needed. The fact that he makes the effort to do all this in English leaves me in awe.